Wind Scoop 2.0 – Blowing in the Wind
"The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind"*...so if we scoop up lots of air we'll have all the answers to life's questions? Or we'll just have happy husbands who like to nap under a big breeze at anchor? I'll be glad when I have found the perfect wind scoop (WS) design.
I've made two wind scoops with different designs. Sure I could have bought a kit or copied a design from a book. Or heaven forbid - bought one**. (There are several styles on the market that you've probably seen deployed, but they can be pricey.) But noooo I have an engineer for a husband. He draws plans on napkins at dock bars and says "here make this". (The more wine, the more complex the design.) So why have I made two different designs if he Read more [...]
The Captain is upgrading our electrical shore power cables. Considering the small investment in the cables (although the value of any fire safety improvement is unquestioned), we want to cover the cables to reduce the potential detrimental impact of sun, weather and dirt on the cables. So another Sunbrella cover.
First a bit about the cables…We bought the SmartPlug cables at Defender during their annual warehouse sale in April. These cables are supposed to be safer because they have 20 times more cross-section connector area than traditional marine power plugs which were designed in the 1930s. The design should reduce the chance of overheating and fire. The plug connector allows an easier snap-in connection rather than the older threaded 
Aprons bring up thoughts of grandmothers, home economists, and Thanksgiving for me. My friends know that I am not a great cook though I am a home economist. I "assemble" ok though. The Captain is probably the better cook on board. He does great grill and grill bread. So when I made a simple apron out of recycled sail cloth not too long ago, I got a funny look. "When was the last time you wore an apron?" Well, it was probably back on land when I made chocolate truffles for a Chocolate Valentines Day Party. I didn't have one on board anyway. Maybe now that I have one, I'll wear one.
Sail Cloth Apron
This is a very easy project taking about 1-2 hours.
Materials:
--Sail cloth or other fabric with some weight
--Binding - 5-8 yards 
Our latest and hopefully final approach to installing our flexible solar panels is a semi-permanent mounting on the bimini. We didn't want a permanent installation to the bimini and tried several alternative options (see Part I and Part II).
The Captain bought two additional flexible panels this summer, so there are six 100 watt panels on three canvas backs. I redid the canvas backings on the old two panels and made a new backing for the third. The canvas backs have grommets with plastic screws and washers holding the panels to the canvas.
Now the panels are on the bimini and tied down to the enclosure safety handles (which I think are one of the best improvements we made to our enclosure). With the boom pulled to the